


Patchwork Princess

by bar2d2s



Category: The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Cinderella Elements, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-30 22:38:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10886358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bar2d2s/pseuds/bar2d2s
Summary: A fairytale I wrote back in 2012 and never posted.





	Patchwork Princess

Once upon a time in a small yet prosperous kingdom, lived a wise-ass king, his beautiful queen, and their unwed son.

King George, often called King Digger, as he worked right alongside his people when creating the deep and wide moat that protected their homes from bandits, and Queen Meloni were quite worried about Prince Owen, as he was over twenty years old and had never expressed an interest in getting married. Instead, he preferred to train with the castle guard, and enter contests of skill. His two older brothers had long since married princesses and left to live with them, in preparation for the day when the old kings would pass on, and they and their wives would inherit the throne.

As Prince Owen was nearing his twenty-fourth birthday, Queen Meloni decided that enough was enough.

"Put down your goblet and listen to me!" She demanded of her husband. King Digger complied, because he always listened to the golden rule of kings: When the queen ain't happy, ain't _nobody_ happy. "Our son is too old to not have a wife. We have allies, do we not? And some of those allies have daughters. We should invite some of them over to celebrate Owen's birthday and, well, perhaps something will happen."

And so, invitations were sent to the castles in neighboring kingdoms, telling of a grand gala.

King Leonard of the north kingdom rolled his eyes at Queen Meloni's thinly-veiled attempt to ask if his sister was still single in his invitation. They'd attend the party, but Princess Lisa would most likely insist on dragging her consort, the wizard Roscoe, along for the fun.

King Mark of the east kingdom vaguely wondered what Queen Meloni had been drinking as she wrote his invitation, as he had no children Owen's age, let alone a female one. Still, his late Queen would be quite upset if he were to ignore an invitation from such a dear friend, so he bundled up his young son and set off for their lands at once, taking only the captain of his guard for protection.

Queen Lashawn of the west kingdom threw her invitation away. She had no business with them, and wanted nothing to do with whatever fool son they were going to try and push on her. She ruled her kingdom alone, and was quite good at it.

King Mick of the southern hotlands considered ignoring the invitation, as King Digger's land was fairly cold, but then he remembered that he and King Leonard had a long-postponed chess game to finish, and that not showing up _could_ be considered forfeit, and he refused to lose to his reluctant ally in such a way.

On and on it went, and as the night of the party crept ever closer, guests of all shapes and sizes began to arrive.

Princesses from kingdoms as close as Keystone and as far away as Star came in, were introduced to Prince Owen...and were then promptly ignored for the remainder of the evening. The only princess who even managed to pry more than a few pleasantries from him was Kara of Krypton, who confessed that she was only there to please her cousin-king. Such honesty was appreciated, and he told her as much before dismissing her.

Towards the middle of the night, and unknown princess arrived, masked. Her invitation hailed her as an emissary of the court of King James the hilarious, but no one could quite place her. Was she the sister of King Hartley the kind? No, Princess Jerrie had already arrived and retired to her room for a nap. Was she the daughter of King Wally of Keystone? No, Princess Iris was much too young to attend the gala, and had been left home with her widowed aunt. Besides, both of _those_ women had ginger hair, and the masked princess was blonde.

So, who was she?

In short, not a _she_ at all.

The princess in the patchwork dress was not a princess, nor a prince, but the court's jester. King James had thought it would be a lark to disguise his jester as a woman and send him in his place, he just hadn't expected Axel to like it. And no one had expected Prince Owen to sidle up to 'her' as she stood alone near the far wall.

"I like your dress." He said, trying to think of what girls liked to hear. "It looks like a lot of different dresses, made into one." Axel reddened.

"That's because that's exactly what it is." 'She' confessed, voice high and soft. "I made it myself, on the journey here."

King James' idea had been to dress Axel up, have 'her' flirt with the prince a bit, then reveal himself to the party at the end of the night. Everyone would have a great laugh, and that would be it. But Axel had never traveled outside of his homeland before, and hadn't been prepared for how handsome the prince was. He'd lurked around outside, watching Prince Owen turn away women left and right, yet the prince had deliberately come up to talk with him.

Once it became clear that the mysterious princess wasn't going to speak with him much more, or divulge her name, Prince Owen tried one last tactic. Holding out his hand, he jerked his head at the band, smiling. "Care to dance?"

They danced through the night, much to the delight of Queen Meloni, and the prince was, after much one-sided conversation, able to coax some more words out of the shy princess. She was soft-spoken and reserved, but he could tell from the way she danced and hear in the way she talked, that she was just nervous.

The grand clock struck eleven, and Axel found himself paralyzed with fear. He had an hour before he was set to reveal his masquerade, but he found that he didn't want to. He couldn't betray the prince's kindness like that. It would be best to just disappear. After a bit more dancing, Axel stumbled, pretending to hurt himself. Prince Owen picked him up carefully, carrying him over to a chair.

 "Rest here, I'll be right back." And off he went, keen on telling his mother that her clever ruse had worked, that he'd found the woman he wished to marry. Once he'd turned to point his bride-to-be out, however, he found that Axel had fled.

Unable to discern which carriage was his, Axel took off into the garden maze to hide. Unluckily for him, Owen caught a glimpse of blue and orange and yellow as he ran, taking off after him.

"Princess!" He called, trying to listen for the sound of her skirts rustling. "Princess, please! Come back! I wish to speak with you!" Axel didn't listen, bunching up the hem of his dress and sprinting as fast as he could, twisting and turning and not looking where he was going until smack! He ran directly into Prince Owen, falling down.

Axel was flushed and out of breath. His mask had come untied as he ran, and it took that opportunity to fall into his lap, revealing his face. Owen gasped in shock, for although he was looking into a distinctly _male_ face, it was still the most beautiful face he'd ever seen. He knelt beside his patchwork princess, taking 'her' hand.

"My princess, would you do me the honor of telling me your name?" Tears welled in Axel's eyes. The dear man was still playing along!

"I, I am no princess, but a jester. My king thought it would be a bit of fun to send me in his place. I am sorry to have deceived you, Prince Owen." The prince brought 'her' hand to his lips, smiling at 'her' blush.

"That may be true, but you see, I am a prince. Whomever I marry, be she of royal standing or not, would become a princess of my land. So I will ask again, my princess, please tell me your name." _Oh_. The tears fell freely, displaced on his cheeks by a wide smile.

"My name is Axel."

In the end, everyone was happy. Queen Meloni got her wish. King James was surprised by an excellent alliance by marriage. Axel eventually married his love, moved into the castle that very night, and was allowed to continue dressing up as long as he wished. And Prince Owen...Prince Owen found the imperfect patchwork princess he'd never known he'd always wanted.

The End.


End file.
